When Wa-Daisho issued the specifications for what would eventually become the Kamiken, an interim type was sought to fill the void until the new design would be ready. (At the time the Republican Council was expecting a lengthy delay before the new type would be available.) When the acquisition orders were given for a simplified Stinger-A, it became very apparent how desperate Wa-Daisho was for this armor type.
For seven years Wa-Daisho had been in existence and yet most everything under the waves surrounding its territory was completely untouchable! Men in body armor could descend to a certain level, but nothing like they could in a suit of power armor or robot armor, configured to endure such depths. To an extent the modified Titan Type 10s filled this void - but a man-sized suit of armor that was capable of deep-water submergence was desired to provide the backbone of such underwater missions.
The Stingray, as it came to be known in Wa-Daisho, was a stripped down form of S-Mart's Stinger, which was itself a high priced, over engineered suit of power armor based upon a pre-cataclysm design for an orbital type. It was roughly man sized - in fact it had trouble accommodating soldiers who were over 5'8" (1.73m.) in height - but it basically fit the bill it was required to fill. That, however, was about all that could be said in favor of the type.
The armor of this model was terribly weak, less than that of an old fashioned Death's Head SAMAS unit. It was slow moving for a light suit of power armor, its jets propelled it at a speed comparable to most commercial jet packs, yet it's operating costs were tremendous.
These suits were delivered to Wa-Daisho in early 114PA and would serve as the primary underwater combat type until the Kamiken finally overshadowed it in late 115PA. It was relegated to rear echelon duties in 116PA operating primarily as a trainer type. Retirement at present is planned for sometime in mid 119PA.
Model Type: Stinger-B.
Class: Multi-Environment Military Power Armor.
Crew: 1.
M.D.C. by Location:
*Head - 80.
*Sensory Extentions (2) - 20 each.
Arms (2) - 80 each.
Legs (2) - 160 each.
*LC-1A Laser Cannons (2) - 45 each.
*L & N Vibro-Weapons Retractable Vibro-Sabres (2) - 20.
**EMT-5 Universal Turbine Pack - 175.
***Main Body - 240.
* These designated areas of the armor are small and difficult targets to hit, so therefore may only be struck with a penalty of -3 to strike.
** The Universal Turbine Pack is a back mounted composite unit of twin aquatic thrusters and six small turbines at the sides, permitting forward "head first" flight or water propulsion.
** The Multi-Use Thruster Pack is a quad-thruster pack mounted on the unit's back. The two middle thrusters are designed for taking in water, and pushing it out the lower part of the thruster at great speeds, while the two outer thrusters are genuine jet thrusters.
*** Once the M.D.C. of the main body is depleted the power armor shuts down completely, and is useless.
Performance:
Maximum Running Speed: 100 mph; Note that the act of running does tire it's operator, but at 8% the usual fatigue rate.
Leaping: The powerful robot legs can leap 10' high or across without the jet thrusters. A jet thruster assisted leap can hurl the unit up to 100' high or across.
Maximum Flying Speed: The unit can fly at a maximum speed of 90 mph, at an altitude of up to 500' for up to 5 hours before requiring at least a 15 minute cooling period. Decrease this flying speed by 5 mph and endurance by 10 minutes for every 25 Lb. of the pilot's body weight and additional cargo weight over 108 Lb.
Maximum Swimming Speed: 4 mph using typical swimming type motions, or may run along the bottom of the ocean at half it's normal running speed. The unit may also propel itself at up to 65 mph underwater via use of the underwater thrusters.
Maximum Safe Diving Depth: The unit is safe from the water tight seal being ruptured up to 1.2 miles in depth.
Statistical Data:
Height: 6'11".
Length: 4'3".
Width: 4'.
Weight: 719 Lb. fully loaded, not counting the pilot.
Physical Strength: Equal to a P.S. of 30.
Power Source: Nuclear; Average Energy life of 5 years.
Market/Black Market Cost: Not Available. This suit was produced in limited numbers for Wa-Daisho's Armed Forces at a retail cost of 1.7 million credits, not counting the 20% discount Wa-Daisho was given on the purchase, which came down to a cost of about 1.3 million credits each. Wa-Daisho is planning retirement of the type in 119PA, and will likely sell the suits off. Cost will be somewhere between 1-1.2 million credits each.
Weapon Systems
1. S-Mart LC-1A Laser Cannons (2): Contained within each forearm is a high powered blue green frequency laser cannon, designed for anti-sea monster and anti-ship duties. While powerful, these weapons are hampered by their short range.
Primary Purpose: Anti-Sea Monster.
Secondary Purpose: Anti-Ship.
Mega-Damage: 1D4x10 M.D. per laser blast, both weapons may be used at the same time, in a massive attack inflicting 2D4x10 M.D.
Rate of Fire: Equal to the users combined hand to hand attacks.
Maximum Effective Range: 1,800'.
Payload: Effectively unlimited, thanks to the nuclear power supply.
2. L & N Vibro-Weapons Retractable Vibro-Sabres (2): This weapon is a retractable form of the fine quality vibro-sabres produced by L & N Vibro-Weapons. In function, these weapons are used against sea monsters, cutting through cable or debris fouling up ship's spinners, sabbotage, and for defensive purposes. When retracted these weapons flip back into an open housing on the underside of each forearm.
Primary Purpose: Anti-Sea Monster.
Secondary Purpose: Defense.
Mega-Damage: +2D6 M.D., in addition to punch damage.
Payload: Effectively unlimited, thanks to the nuclear power supply.
3. Systems of Note: This unit incorporates all the usual environmental features found in power armor including environmental protection, environmental control, air filtration, an independant 10 hour supply of air, heat and radiation shielding.
1. Virtual Reality Interface & Low Boost Control Systems: The top of the line in power armor reality interfaces, as produced in Desert Star, is the Virtual Reality Interface. This system is far above those used elsewhere in North America, perhaps in the world. A series of high resolution digital cameras installed interpret the surrounding terrain into graphics at real-time speed without any form of lag. The curved LCD screen of the typical H.U.D. system used in most power armor now is a half sphere screen giving the operator a full 180 degrees of vision, and the suit's computer will actually talk to the operator giving audio warnings of impending attack, calculated dangers and so on. Some Stingray pilots say that the Stingray almost seems like an A.I.! The targeting computer is advanced over and above that of other systems as well, allowing the simultanious training of four weapon systems on a single target. External audio is excellent, and will allow the operator to hear sounds as quiet as a mouse's squeek at 100 yards. Thankfully sound filtration prevents the operator from being deafened by loud explosions and similarly loud sounds. An unintentional feature of this system is that those attempting to use mind control spells or psionics, cannot phase those inside of the Stingray - thanks to the use of the heavily computerized system. The actual controls of the Stingray are of the low boost variety that begin to read nerve impulses in limbs, and begin to react to this impulse a nanosecond before the limbs of the pilot actually begin to move. While not as sensitive as the high boost reflex control systems available, it does provide a slight advantage in reflexes.
2. Anti-Dazzle Protection: This is essentially nothing more than a polarized film on the sensors that react to the ambient light. Thus if a bright flash occurs in the face of the Stingray, the lense turns nearly black for an instant, and then quickly changes back to normal - protecting the operator from being dazzled.
3. Infrared Optics: This system allows the user to see the heat emanating from an object. It can be set to be white hot or black hot, depending on operating status. If in combat black hot would be best to avoid being blinded by explosions and similar. While in passive mode, outside of combat, white hot would be best, so as things like body heat would better stand out. The range of this system is 2,000'.
4. Nightvision Optics: This system uses the ambient light from starlight, moonlight and similar to allow a sort of green-tinged vision beyond normal visual ranges for a human. The range of this system is 2,000'.
5. Macrovision Optics: These optics are essentially like a microscope, capable of magnifying objects hundreds of times, from a distance of 6'. This is a useful system for analyzing clues in the field, such as tracks, spent shell casings and similar.
6. Telescopic Optics: These are exactly as they sound, telescopic optics that enhance the image of far away objects. At a range of 6,000' an object appears only 100' away, as an example. The range of this system is 6,000' effectively - but it can enhance the image of objects further away yet still, they just are not quite so well detailed.
7. Thermal Imaging Optics: This is very similar to the Infrared Optics in the sense that it detects heat, but unlike the imprecise nature of the infrared optics, this measures the heat signature precisely displaying them in colorful shades of reds, yellows, greens and blues with various degrees of heat. The thermal imaging optics are also far more sensitive than the infrared optics, actually allowing them to see heat through walls of structures at certain distances. The range of this system is 2,000', but it can only see heat through an obstacle such as a brick wall from 100'.
8. Military Radio & Scrambler: This is the same radio equipment, bolt for bolt, microchip for microchip, as the system found on the USA-G10 Glitterboy. The broadcast range is a modest 50 miles. By resetting the radio transmitter inside the armor to an elevated position, however, the same transmitter can achieve a fairly consistent 500 mile range using atmospheric bounce. Atmospheric anomalys can extend this range still further or can completely disable the radio system within a set radius, it just depends on the circumstances. The scrambler system allows the radio signals to be scrambled to all those not equipped with the correct scrambling codes.
9. Military Radar & Tracking Computer: The radar system of the Stingray covers a one hundred and twenty degree arc in front of the suit to detect distant objects. Unlike the more primitive types used elsewhere as well as the civilian radar type also offered by S-Mart, S-Mart's military radar system is more sensitive to changes in environment. Thus if deployed to a city scape, and a man in body armor steps out from behind a wall for a moment before ducking back, and the pilot does not notice it the radar will momentarily send out a tone and the targeting computer will indicate the spot where it was seen. The range of this model is a respectable 25 miles. The tracking computer can keep tabs on up to 50 targets, and indicate speed, course, and similar. (The tracking computer also aids in the use of the sonar system.)
10. I.F.F. Transponder System: This system transmits data such as alpha-numeric designation code, course, mission, base of operations, and unit, via radio signal, to other similarly equipped military stations, vehicles, and power armor suits that have been programmed with the correct access codes. A note towards the safety of I.F.F. - is that the codes are very difficult to break. As the Stingray is strictly a commercial variety, all Stingray I.F.F. Transponder Systems are programmed as civilian models, which allows N.O.M.A.D. Military types to automatically read their signals. In turn all that the civilian type would read about a N.O.M.A.D. Military type is; "MILITARY, HEADING XXX, ALT XXX, SPD XXX".
11. Sonar System: This system passive/active sonar sensor. In the passive role, a series of six sensitive hydrophones simply listen for noises in the waters surrounding the power armor unit and displays locations of echoes with approximate ranges and direction on a screen similar to a radar display. In the active role a loud pulse of sound, known in the submariner world as a "ping" is sent out. This "ping" will automatically reveal the location of the power armor unit, but it will also reveal the precise location of most any non-organic object within the range of the sonar. The range of the active and passive sonar is 20 miles, however the passive sonar CAN detect loud sounds in the water, like explosions, up to 100 miles away. About the only information possible from such "hot noises" is approximate direction of origin.
12. Laser Targeting System: On the exterior of the helmet, at the base of one of the sensory extensions, is an advanced laser targeting system and range finder that provides a true point of impact for a weapon's aim, by shining a laser on the target. This provides a +1 to strike when targets are within 6,000'.
13. Infrared Baffling: Special efforts went into producing the Stingray so that it had a very small heat signature, making it difficult to spot the power armor using either infrared or thermal optics. With this design feature there is a 01-40% chance that an observer using either form of optics will not notice the Stingray's heat signature.
14. Improvements Available: he Stingray's basic layout is close to reaching it's furthest development potential, in terms of the number of systems that can be carried. Remaining system requirement slots are as follows, the first number is internal, second is external. Head 0/17.5, Left Arm 0/15, Right Arm 0/15, Left Leg 10/30, Right Leg 10/30, and Main Body 22.5/10.
5. Hand to Hand Combat Abilities: In addition to Power Armor Basic or Elite pilot training, the Stingray enjoys the following bonuses;
+3 to Initiative
+4 to Strike with ranged weapon systems
+1 to Strike.
+1 to Parry.
+1 to Dodge.
Punch: 1D6 M.D.
Kick: 1D6 M.D.
Power Punch: 2D6 M.D.
Leap Kick: 2D6 M.D.
Body Flip/Throw: 1D6+3 M.D.
Body Block/Tackle: 1D6+3 M.D.
The picture used above is from R. Talsorian's "Cyberpunk 2020®" as seen in their source book Maximum Metal. In the source book it is seen as the Orbital Air/Raven Mycrocyb Spider. This is by no means an attempt to steal the hard working efforts of R. Talsorian Inc's authors or artists, but merely used here as a means of utilizing interesting designs from their source materials, inside of Palladium Books' RIFTS.
